firsttimer2018

I'm comparing 3 Alaska cruises all Princess and all leaving the same day - June 2, 2018.

There is a Southbound on Star where the inside/OV/balcony are listed as starting from $437/$547/$917 on princess.com.

There is a Northbound on Golden where prices are $457/$797/$1453.

There is a Seattle roundtrip on Ruby where prices are $998/$1679/$1548.

All sailing go to Glacier Bay. Is the price difference the ship or itinerary or something else?

Combine the lemonade and ice tea to make yourself an Arnold Palmer

Here is the correct way to make it and one of the best ESPN commercials ever:

For $39 you are allowed on the ship as first in line. Then you get a ship tour, photo, MDR lunch with wine, the $39 is applied to a new booking if you make one and you are off by 3PM. You can only book by calling - not available online.

Hoping to get a look at Infinity when it is in Ft Lauderdale

It will be their first time out of the east coast time zone.

Did your kids stay on east coast time and wake at 4AM everyday or quickly adjust to west coast time?

How did they handle the extra long hours of sun?

Any tips?

For those of you that cruised in the 70s and 80s:

Gopher was offered a tip and he says he can't accept a tip per company policy. Was this ever true?

The rooms are huge. Were these suites or just sound stage fiction?

Did everyone really dress this fancy for dinner?

Lit candles on the table for dinner?

What else strikes you as very realistic or just made up from the show vs reality?

Is there a minimum age/would kids like it?

Where are you going? If we know we can make some pretty good guesses. But, ultimately docking berths are assigned by the ports.

By the way, where did you see any berths (docks) in the personlizer. I only see ports mentioned.

In the cruise personalizer under the calendar & planning tab it lists start and end point as pier 91 Seattle. Then when I click the link it displays lots of details on parking, boarding time, etc.

Ruby

June 4 Juneau

June 5 Skagway

June 7 Ketchikan

June 8 Victoria

Does Princess offer wake up calls, like in a hotel?

How do I find which specific docks we stop at in route? The cruise personalizer shows the dock for start and end of trip but not any in the middle.

Thanks everyone! I'll buy on board to get the latest version and make sure it has the map.

I'm reading Patters from last year about Alaska cruises and each day there is an article in box from the navigator. Most articles reference the Alaska Cruise Companion. Is it free or for sale? If for sale, at what price and did you enjoy it/would you recommend buying?

We are booked on the Ruby in June with 2 elementary age kids. I have seen all the wonderful food pictures and menus posted and am excited to eat in the MDR but have a few questions.

What is the typical length of time that a full MDR meal takes? I have seen a few posts about 2 hour dinners. Is this typical or just someone really taking their time and enjoying the meal? The reason I'm asking is that while typically well behaved in restaurants, the kids could not handle a 2 hour dinner. Does the staff bring the food faster to groups with kids? Any other MDR dining suggestions for people that have cruised with kids are welcome.

We are doing a 7 night roundtrip Alaska from Seattle via Glacier Bay in June 2018 on Princess. We are looking for the best excursions, but also aim to the cheaper end of the spectrum as just the cruise cost will make this our most expensive vacation ever. But also knowing we might never get back to Alaska we don't want to miss something. Today I booked (all cancel-able if there is something better) Juneau rental car for self drive to Mendenhall and Eagle Beach, WhitePass train and Lumberjack Show. And then just self walk Victoria.

Edit: not sure how to edit title for spelling, but I tried. ANY

I couldn't find any mention of a limit on the princess website, but a google image search of ultimate ship tour shows groups of all adults?

I booked on Infinity for March 31, 2019 when it was first listed as available on the celebrity website a few months ago. A few days later when friends tried to book, that sailing did not show on the website. Several call to celebrity spaced a few weeks apart get the same response, "that cruise is not available for booking at this time." The phone people could not tell me if it was chartered or planned dry dock or itinerary change. My booking still shows as active on the celebrity website when I sign in.

 

Any ideas what is happening or likely to happen?

Correct sailing date is March 30, 2019. 5 night Ft Lauderdale, Key West & Cozumel.

I just checked and see exactly what you do ... Waitlisted! It's also showing the same for the March 2nd and Feb 25th and Jan 28th sailings. I think your suspicions cover exactly what is happening. They are looking into contracts either for a charter or dry dock and seeing which date works out the best. The other thing that might be happening is that they are looking into making it into a longer itinerary. They don't want a lot of bookings to settle so they close it down for bookings until they have determined all the details and which dates are going to work. They won't notify you until they have made a decision and their contracts is set in stone. Your booking will still show as active, though. I've had this happen to me a couple of times with Celebrity.

My suspicions tell me, that because these waitlisted cruises are throughout those months, they are looking into changing up the itineraries to schedule these for longer cruises ... maybe put some 9 day cruises in there. This happened to us on the Mercury ... they called to tell us our 7 night sailing was turned into an 11 night sailing and we could keep our room for the same price plus a little OBC for the inconvenience. Inconvenience, you say?? I jumped on that one. I knew people on the next sailing and they weren't quite as happy as we were.

Maybe opening up Cuba has something to do with it, too. I just recently had a cruise for late next year canceled by NCL, as they were redeploying her to visit Cuba instead of Alaska. So, they might just be looking into adding that port of call.

I have a cruise booked that is over a year away that is all of a sudden showing as sold out, too, however, it is on Princess. I booked this when they canceled my NCL cruise. 2 out of 2?? Wow, what are the odds? I am surmising ... but am asking these same questions.

I'm new to cruising but figured it must be something like this. Since this is 20 months out I figured there is no way it could be sold out already.

I can find a March 30, 2019 sailing on the Infinity on TA websites. It is a 5 night Caribbean, is this the one?

 

It looks to have limited availability. It could be off the Celebrity site for a number of reasons

-pulled for inventory management

-pulled be because negotiating a large group or charter

-not showing because Celebritys IT function is dysfunctional at best.

 

We had a cruise we booked for earlier this year pulled for about 6-8 weeks, there were rumors of it being chartered but ultimately it reappeared. If it is a potential charter you won't be advised until it is a done deal. This cruise is still 19 months away so don't panic yet.

 

Your friends could try and book through a on-lineTA (sorry can't name any on here).

Yes that is the one. Sorry missed the date by one day.

I booked on Infinity for March 31, 2019 when it was first listed as available on the celebrity website a few months ago. A few days later when friends tried to book, that sailing did not show on the website. Several call to celebrity spaced a few weeks apart get the same response, "that cruise is not available for booking at this time." The phone people could not tell me if it was chartered or planned dry dock or itinerary change. My booking still shows as active on the celebrity website when I sign in.

Any ideas what is happening or likely to happen?